Modi's rise does not bode well for Indian press freedom

As India is set to hold elections next month, journalists covering
Narendra Modi, India's right-wing prime ministerial candidate, are reportedly coming
under increased pressure online and in the newsroom for shedding critical light
on him. Given these developments, free and independent reporting of the
campaign is in doubt--as is the future climate for press freedom should the
leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) become prime minister.

A recent Pew
Research Center survey found that Modi has widespread popularity--78 percent
of those polled held a favorable view of him--even though he remains one of the
most controversial political figures in India. Modi was cleared of any
wrongdoing by a special investigation team appointed by the Supreme Court, but many
journalists continue
to question his role
as chief minister during the deadly violence in Gujarat more than a decade ago.
"The year 2002 changed Modi's equations with journalists and, in particular,
the Delhi-based 'national' media," Rajdeep Sardesai, editor-in-chief of IBN18
Network, wrote in an editorial
last year.

Sevanti Ninan, a media critic and editor of the media watchdog
website The Hoot, told CPJ that
outlets which reported critically on the 2002 violence continue "to draw
Modi's ire to this day." She said Modi has been known to walk out of studio
interviews on TV channels that question him about the violence. This week, Newslaundry, a media critique website, posted
a statement
saying Modi canceled a recent interview for its "Candidates 2014" series.
According to The Hoot, he canceled
only two days before the interview because Newslaundry
would not fulfill conditions set by Modi.

Journalist Shivam Vij recently wrote
about how some big names in Indian media have come under pressure. Sagarika
Ghose, the host of "Face the Nation" on CNN-IBN and deputy editor of the
English-language news channel, has received orders from Network 18, which owns
the channel, to not post critical tweets on Modi, according to Vij. Management
has also pressured
Nikhil Wagle, editor of IBN Lokmat, Network 18's Marathi-language channel, to
refrain from critical comments on Modi, according to Vij. Neither Ghose nor
Wagle responded to CPJ requests for comment.

A recent report
in Caravan magazine explored how
Network 18 has shifted rightwards, from the managing director's public comments
supporting Modi's candidacy to indirect pressure on editors to not criticize
him. Open magazine, citing unnamed
sources, also reported that there are orders from top
levels at Network 18 instructing journalists to rein in anti-Modi stories and
to cut live to any Modi rally or speech. Network 18 did not respond to CPJ's
request for comment.

While Ninan expressed doubts whether journalists are coming
under such pressure in the newsroom, she did say they are feeling it on the
Internet. "Where journalists do get pilloried for their views by Modi
supporters is on online media and social media. There is definitely a pro-Modi
majority out there," she said. Journalists have documented
the rise of pro-Modi, pro-BJP, pro-Hindu nationalist tweeters who dominate
political discourse online.

Vij also found that both Ghose and Wagle have received online
threats in recent months, and in the case of Ghose, threats of rape, as documented
by Al
Jazeera last month. Ghose told Vij that Modi's supporters make it
increasingly difficult to criticize him online, especially over Twitter.

Some journalists appear to have drawn more direct
consequences for their views. Sun TV, a regional Tamil-language channel,
discontinued "Vibhada Medhai," a daily prime-time debate show hosted by
political analyst Thiru Veerapandian for 17 years, following his comments at an
event late last year suggesting people should think twice before they vote for
Modi. Members of the BJP threatened not to participate in his future programs, according
to news reports. Sun
TV could not be reached for comment.

Some journalists now posit
that the sacking
of Hartosh Singh Bal, the former political editor of Open, occurred as a result of his critical reports on Modi, and not
due to the magazine owner's connections to the Congress Party as initially reported.
Bal's editor, Manu Joseph, who resigned days after Bal's termination, told The
Hoot that the magazine's owner, Sanjiv Goenka, sacked Bal because he
was "making a lot of enemies...political enemies." Bal's position has since been filled by a journalist
known to be close to Arun Jaitley, a member of the BJP and leader of the
opposition in India's upper chamber of parliament, news
reports said.

Modi, who is serving his fourth term as chief minister of
Gujarat, has a history of silencing critical journalists in his home state. In
2006, his administration brought sedition charges against Manoj Shinde, an
editor of the Gujarati-language daily Surat
Saamna, for criticizing Modi's handling of a flood, news
accounts said. Sedition is punishable by death in India. (It is unclear if
the case against Shinde was ever resolved). Two years later, CPJ documented
sedition charges brought by Gujarat authorities against an editor and reporter
at The Times of India and a
photographer at Gujarat Samachar in connection
with a series of investigative reports questioning the competency of a
high-ranking police officer and his alleged connection to the leader of an
organized crime group. The latter charges were eventually quashed
in court.

In addition, CPJ research
shows that "Aakrosh," a documentary on the 2002 violence in Gujarat, was
censored by India's Central Board of Film Certification, then headed by a BJP
politician from Gujarat.

Last year, I documented how attacks against the press
increased in Karnataka state under
the Hindu right, which deifies Modi. Other Hindu nationalist groups who pay
obeisance to Modi have followed suit. Last month, a mob calling itself the
Hindu Sena gathered outside the Delhi office of Caravan and burnt copies of the magazine because of an interview with
a jailed Hindu extremist who alleged that the leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist organization that has close ties to the BJP
(and to which Modi belongs), sanctioned attacks across India that killed more
than 100 people between 2006 and 2008. The RSS leader denied the accusations.

In another disturbing development, a Hindu nationalist group
pressured Penguin India to recall Wendy Doniger's book, The Hindus: An Alternative History last month, news
accounts reported. Prominent journalists Siddharth Varadarajan and
Jyotirmaya Sharma subsequently called
on Penguin to cancel their existing contracts to continue publishing their
books, saying the Doniger outcome had undermined their faith in the publisher.
Interestingly, Varadarajan's book is on the 2002 violence under Modi's rule. Varadarajan
told CPJ that Penguin is considering their request.

A figure who could one day head the world's largest
democracy should have a high tolerance for criticism. Yet Modi, his supporters,
and some media owners apparently want to shut down such criticism. Free,
independent news coverage is most likely to pay the price.

Sumit Galhotra is the research associate for CPJ's Asia program. He served as CPJ's inaugural Steiger Fellow and has worked for CNN International, Amnesty International USA, and Human Rights Watch. He has reported from London, India, and Israel and the Occupied Territories, and specializes in human rights and South Asia.

Comments

Ironical that you glossed over the 12 years of witch hunt of Modi by the media where Modi was subjected to vilest of abuse such as mass murderer,killer etc without an iota of proof and Modi to his eternal credit has never filed any defamation suits nor attempted intimidation of the media personnel.now that the courts have given clean chit and the events seem to be folding giving clear picture of Modis likelihood of being his becoming Prime minister,it is the guilty consciouesss which is making the media see ghosts where there are none.
It is more likely that rather than Modi it is the proprietors of media house who sensing the change of affairs at helm is shunting out the anti Modi brigade on their own in their interests.

Do you have any idea what is happening in India. Obviously you have not lived here and giving western view. Hindu nationalist is not communal it symbolises patriotism. Modi is an excellent leader that India needs.

250 seats to bjp in next govt will be dangerous:why
1)The fear of corrupt business houses which controls the media ,they fear if a non corrupt govt comes up ,they have to close the shop.
2)The right wing goons can do any kind of rampage which the media cannot criticize because of above fear of the corrupt.
3)The unusual interference of Army in the recent past ,It can be doubted as rightist tendency inside the Army.(My personal doubt)
4)I dont think if this happens Arnav Gosawami can ever utter "India wants to know".

2. Sagarika Ghose: It is well-documented how she abuses Modi or BJP every day. She does not report, she just abuses.

3. "Candidates 2014": It would have been better if Sumit did some research on this event. This event was started initially as "PM Cadidates for 2014". Laloo Yadav was one of the interviewees. But Laloo Yadav is a convicted criminal and he cannot contest elections, so he cannot be a Prime Ministerial candidate. When pointed out, the event organizers changed it to "Candidates 2014". Then NDTV, perpetual mod0hater, also came into picture and was advertsing this event. Modi backed out because he did not want to be associated with an event where convicted criminals like Laloo are touted as "candidates". Any WTF is "Candidates 2014". Candidates for what?

4. Wendy Doniger: What does pulping of a book has to do with Modi? Using the same laws the movie "The Da Vinci Code" was banned in India not to hurt Christians, Satanic Verses was banned, The Red Sari was banned, Taslima was hounded, Sanal Edamaruku IS hiding right now in Finland right now because he exposed a "miracle" in a Mumbai Church. So how is Wendy's issue different from the other issue and why is Modi being beaten up for this issue?

5. Siddarth Varadarajan: Siddarth Varadarajan is hardly your role model for free speech. He is the one who wrote that section 153(the same sections used against Wendy's book) should be used against cable companies not to broadcast movies like Border. Ironically he wrote this in the same book quoted by Sumit. He is so intolerant that he had an editorial policy not to cover Modi's meetings on the front page.

This piece is disagreeable for many reasons, from poor research (a re-hash of wild allegations) to a lop-sided tint.

What I find most reprehensible though is the display of a fascist streak by the leftist/communist media at even the slightest possibility of a semblance of balance creeping into an otherwise compromised and blatantly biased media!

Over the decades, an increasingly leftist clique has taken over the mainstream narrative in India. (That is one reason much of Indian center and right has had to find shelter in online forums, blogs etc.) Microscopic segments of the mainstream media seem to be getting their act together, realzing that the public is best served through truthful reporting and balanced editorial content. This is a trend that CANNOT be stopped. Live with it.

[Btw, the fascist nature of leftists/communists should not be surprising; all fascist groups in history began as leftist movements. Yup, including the National Socialists of Germany - abbreviated as Nazis.]

dear Modiji
please choice the place to victory from varansi seat is good idea but it need more development and good emplymnet as young genertion are out please make good and better to eradicated cost factor into development that give a lot of development in area

Exactly great article with point to note analysis. Narendra Modi has a huge fan following among the all political leaders in the world. I just found one article related his popularity just check it out here : Narendra Modi popularity

Blatantly lop sided article by the leftist - communist Modi hater/basher. Media like this and so many others do not understand common people's mindset that they are fed up with this Kaun gress paid media.

Your title says you are research associate. I advice you to complete your studies first rather than post baseless speculative agenda driven BS online ... Rather, i advice you to go back to school and start journalism from scratch... indian english press has always been based against Modi...for the first time press will become free after Modi lands into power...